


Fallen of a Robin

by OfficialLoop



Series: Fallen of a Robin [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, dc comics at it again, other tags will be added, restarting this lost, yes Alfred is dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfficialLoop/pseuds/OfficialLoop
Summary: Damian, who is now old enough to 13, still questions himself if he is a hero. Good or bad? After Alfred's death, it has struck everybody. It is affecting Damian the most.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon & Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Series: Fallen of a Robin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078541
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Fallen of a Robin

Memory repeats after itself. Over and over again. It was an image that you can’t get out of your head no matter what you try to do to stop it.

Alfred’s dead.

Damian’s thought replays the scene over and over, seeing Bane crushing Alfred. Hearing a crack and then silence. Repeating itself until Damian can feel tears rushing on his warm cheek while sniffing.

It’s already horrible enough that Dick lost his memory from a gunshot to not remembering his own family. That Damian was hurt. His brother.

After Alfred had died, Damian broke down. His thoughts were jogging over and over again, hearing his final words in his head.

“Please not in front of the boy. Please.”

Those were his last words. That Damian was forced to hear. Forever.

“It’s my fault,” Damian whispers to himself quietly. “It’s my fault.” He says again, but this time is louder than he speaks. “It’s. My. Fault.” 

He sniffs again.

He’s a mess. His thick hair all over his face, his eyes red as he’s cried for too long that he hasn’t called before, his face a mess of dirt, and he hasn’t slept the past few days properly since it happened.

His father hasn’t even spoken much to him since his death, after the disaster in front of his team. Damian declared not to be Robin anymore as he punched his father.

He was punching him many times in the face until he was tired. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Damian quietly turns his head to the black book and grabs it next to him. As he opened it, there were pictures of Alfred. Family photos, old photos from when he was younger, pictures with just him and his father, any images that included Alfred. Just Alfred.

Although he has looked at all of them many times, he still sees them closely at Alfred. Suddenly a rush of tears fell on his face again, hitting the pictures.

Wiping the tears, Damian finally stands up, putting the photo book on his bed as he then walks across to his seat to get his gray type clothing that was different than a Robin suit.

The crime was still there in Gotham. And he has to do his duty to protect it. Stop criminals. Permanently.

Damian puts on his mask then proceeds to go out the window.

Even if it means to cross the line that he promised to his father that he would never do.


	2. Family Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bat family gets involved in searching for Damian in hopes of reasoning with him. While they do so, they take a moment of a break for a while.

In the Batcave, the area is where they held meetings for discussions, projects, and emergencies. Where they can talk about something all together as a family or a mission of sorts. Bruce had to call a meeting after meeting face to face Damian’s incident. In the meeting, he called for those who showed up Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Barbara, and Cassandra.

“By now, you all are aware of Damian’s incident,” Bruce says calmly, sinking in his chair while his hands on his chin. Staring at all of them, he can tell they were aware.

It was a moment of pause. “Right now… Ric won’t be with us for this meeting.” He added.

“He isn’t a part of our family Bruce,” Jason spoke up first out of all of them taking this discussion somewhere.

“Jason, even if he doesn’t recognize us, he’s still family.” Barbara glared at him, already annoyed. Always Jason being Jason.

“That’s what you think.” He disagreed back without creating eye contact.

“Enough.”

“Dick is still family. Right?” Tim asks Bruce to clarify.

“It’s a Ric. Correct yourself, ‘Drake.’” 

“What the hell is your problem right now?”

“I’ll like to clarify right now. Your identity is ‘Drake.’ That’s a problem. Second, you guys finally realized that Damian was hurting inside? You all thought he could move on quickly?” Jason says, looking at everybody back and forth with a stern look. 

Of course, Jason was baffled. He had every right to be confused. In his perspective, he was disappointed how they are all shocked that Damian himself quit being Robin, ran off, and now is doing his way of fighting criminals. Occasionally he wonders if they're human at all. They forget how Damian is thirteen but is still a boy with feelings deep down. Now he’s done with everyone’s bullshit.

“Oh, and Bruce, don’t act dumb. You’re a damn detective, but you can’t even pay attention to what your son is feeling? It’s like all over again where you failed me, Barbara, Dick, and now Damian.” 

“Jason!” Barbara shouted

“You know I’m fucking right.”

“Hell, even Steph died like all of us nowadays, right?”

“Oh.” That was all Stephanie had to say. It was taking a quick turn.

“He’s right.” Bruce let out, shutting his eyes in the moment of pause 

“No, it’s not true.” Barbara declared

“Barbara, he's right. I blame myself every day, knowing I neglected you all and nearly lost you all. I keep making mistakes and those mistakes I could’ve prevented.”

“But this time, I’m not going to make the exact mistake. I will talk to Damian. As a father, I’ll deal with this alone. For now, you all will leave this alone.” Bruce added, still closing his eyes.

All he could feel was his pain, and what’s worst was his son. His son is now blinded with hate and anger. Does he think it’s his fault because of Alfred? This entire time has Damian blamed himself? He’s a fool for not even understanding how his whole son felt. He tends to forget and not realize that Damian is not like him. He’s only still a boy. 

“Yeah. Of course.” Jason said, eventually calming down, settling his arms together. As for others, they nodded.

Cassandra was quiet this entire time. As usual, she doesn’t talk much or doesn’t even bother to. But she can sense people’s emotions and feelings.

And right now, she’s sensing so many from all of them. Different emotions. Sad, anger, frustration, tension, distress, and everything. They all look mentally tired. Jason is blowing all over the place as he can’t control himself. Stephanie is also quiet, but Cassandra can sense that she’s filled with worry by the way she’s silently moving her hands. Distraction. Barbara is even breathing heavily. Anxiety. Tim is worried by the way she looks in his eyes. His eyebrows are moving. And then there’s Bruce.

Bruce was a man who doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him. Cassandra never saw Bruce cry or any other type of feelings that a man never wants to show. However, even she can’t detect Bruce’s emotions correctly. All you could see was his straight face with thoughts in his mind but unable to read them. His eyes cold, yet he’s caring, but he doesn’t show that. She gets a little frustrated when she can’t tell what he’s exactly feeling. He certainly is a man with no emotions that he doesn’t tempt to show.

“What if… Damian’s in trouble?” Stephanie asks while stopping the silence they all were doing.

“He’ll be fine,” Bruce answered her question.

Jason looked at Stephanie, “Don’t worry, Steph. He’s right. Damian is tough for a kid his age. He’s headstrong.” He lets out as he uses his fist to knock his head softly, finally making a joke.

Stephanie eventually smiled and was relieved calmly. “That’s true.”

After there was another moment of silence again, they all finally decided to head upstairs to eat dinner prepared an hour ago. Although it’s cold, they all are willing to eat since they are all hungry either way. The only one up there already was Ric.

“I’m sorry. He sounds like a good kid.” Ric said while chewing down the meat all at the same time. 

Jason gave him a death stare. “He is a good kid.” Barbara immediately kicks him under the table which Jason responds with “ow” and frowns at Barbara.

“Yeah, when you were Dick… You had a good bond with Damian.” Tim explained while attempting to stab his fork into the cold steak.

“Really? That’s cool.” Ric replied.

“It was more than cool. He trusted you. You were like a brother to him.” Jason mumbled, still giving him a glare, which Barbara sighs.

“I’m sorry, Ric. It’s just back when you were a different person, and you had a different personality. We don’t expect you to remember us.” Barbara explained, defending him.

Ric looks up at Barbara and Jason. And stops chewing. “I’m… Sorry, I just really don’t remember… Damian? Tell me more about him.” 

Tim smiles, “You were the one that convinced me that Damian was a good person. Back then, he even tried to kill me at first, and we had some type of rival.” He chuckles.

Tim liked explaining some parts to Ric. It just reminds him of the good old days they had when Tim discovered who Batman was and Robin. Him remembering back then it was just Ric, Barbara, and him. They had amazing adventures and worked all together until, of course, Jason, Stephanie, and Cassandra joined in, and then Damian came on board and then Duke. 

Stephanie giggled, “It’s even better when I used to be a batgirl and worked with Barbara at first when I started working, and I accidentally froze Damian. Boy, you were mad at me.” She said, waving her fork.

“What’s funny was when he and I were running on top of trains, I told him you were pregnant, and he almost slipped!” Tim laughed

“He almost slipped? Oh my god, I wish I was there to see that.” Stephanie said, grinning widely; they had some type of competition, which was the best memory to tell Ric.

Ric grinned, looking both at Tim and then at Stephanie, and then finally looked at Cassandra, who was next to him, eating silently. “What about you? Did we have memories?” He asks where she yet looks up and makes contact.

She nods, “You were like a mentor. Good person.” She explains slowly. “Good brother.”

“Wow, I must’ve been a good one.” Ric then turned his head at Barbara. “And you?”

Barbara stiffened a bit and pushed her glasses up close. “We had good moments. Special ones. We knew each other from the very start. We shared a lot of stuff. Our adventure was a long way.” 

Ric nods again and then turns his head quickly to Jason with curious looks, “You?”

Jason took a moment of silence staring at him and a flash of hurt in his eyes that Ric only saw for a second that he didn’t understand.

Jason sighs and rubs his eyes. “You were the first Robin until you grew up with some freaky mullet, and you supported me taking over your place. Then after I got killed, I came back, and you instantly became all brother mode with me.”

Barbara instantly choked on her meat after she heard of getting killed. “I-“ until she was interrupted 

Ric looks up, confused, “Wait, you died?” 

Jason shakes his head a bit, bouncing, “Sorta. It’s a long story, and it involves some crazy shit. Like really crazy shit. Involving with the League and all that.” He then finally chewed his last bit on his plate.

“Can you tell me that story? I’m pretty interested to hear it.” Ric asks him, curious with eyes.

Jason stops chewing for a second and looks at Ric. After a moment, he swallows, “Wait. You actually wanna hear what happened?” 

Ric nodded.

Okay, maybe this isn’t that bad. Ric wants to hear his story on what happened in the past of his life growing up. Jason finally smiled and clapped his hands, rubbing together, which Barbara rolls her eyes, knowing it’s going to be way more dramatic than it is.

Jason coughs. “Okay. So Damian has a mom who’s like a badass, but she’s that type of crazy chick that killed Damian because her love was wild with Bruce, and then he came back to life again. Then he has a grandfather who’s like totally a douchebag named Ra’s. Then I came back by her basically kidnapping me and then put me in Lazarus pit.” Jason explains with a hint voice of pride.

Ric’s eyes widened, “Holy crap. And Damian also died? Why is everyone dying?”

“Get ready for another crazy shit happening for Damian.” Then Jason whispers at Barbara, “he’s not that bad at all, huh?”

Barbara groans and mutters, “Oh God,” while closing her eyes, shaking her head. One of those crazy stories that Jason goes on and on that won’t stop until Jason gets tired, which is like an hour later.

Bruce looks barely at everybody. They were all starting to enjoy themselves. Tim and Stephanie were talking while Jason was smiling and finally talking with Ric and Barbara. He notices Cassandra gave a crazy look at Jason. He ignored what Jason said, but he didn’t bother as he was observing everyone closely. He was relieved that they can all enjoy a meal and start a conversation going.

He knows that this was the first dinner that Alfred didn’t make. Instead, he had help from Ric, who is surprisingly a better cooker than Bruce himself. But then again, Bruce can’t cook properly with anything but a sandwich. Realizing Alfred would always take care of him during a cold season, sick, preparing dinner, breakfast, and such. He was still relying on Alfred, who is now not here. He now needs to do things on his own.

While he starts rethinking everything, it comes back to thinking Damian. He's not here with him or his family right now where he could be eating, being annoyed easily makes his usual sound, and using everyone’s last name. He needs to make a plan to confront Damian although he’s hidden somewhere, it has to be a prepared plan.

A plan to speak to Damian as a father to son talk. He only hopes that Damian comes to understand and comes back to only also give him help and support after everything they've been through since Alfred's death.

He needs to let Damian know it wasn’t his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be chapter 3 but switched it


	3. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian starts his usual punishment with criminals until Batman and Red Robin gets involved

It was always a usual night in Gotham where you can hear screams of being robbed, getting beaten up, or anything. Damian’s been doing this the past weeks, doing his method by beating them to near death and then leaving them there in their puddle of blood choking.

He runs quietly at night on high roofs while he’s on high alert. He was listening to any noises in the night, whether there’s a rat in the dumpster or a cat meowing loudly in the alley. Any sound he tries to hear nearby somewhere.

As he runs in the cold night that he feels on his cheeks, he hears a female screaming. Coming from a scream, he can tell the female could be over her late twenties. He stops quickly, trying to locate which sound he hears from the sound. It 

Realizing it’s straight ahead a couple of blocks. Damian then quickly runs again towards the screaming sound with all his energy.

Tonight is not his night at all. Or the last couple of days. Damian has been beating criminals to death until they have bruises on their eyes or can’t properly breathe. This criminal will have the worst night they ever have, and they won’t commit ever again. 

He hears a raspy voice coming close as he goes towards “Cmon sweetheart, just give me your wallet” his laugh rough and cold. Damian can tell the man smokes a lot.

Damian jumps off the roof and behind the criminal while the woman screams in fear, shaking rapidly against the wall.

“Leave her alone, you scumbag.” He says, gritting his teeth, giving the man a death stare as the man turns around to face him. 

“A kid? This has been a joke. Run along.” The older man laughed as he coughs and spits while waving his dagger at him.

“I’ll make sure this is going to be the last night that you’ll ever have,” Damian said, smiling dangerously. The older man took offense and started cursing at him and then proceeded to go towards him to attack while he heard the women screaming still.

The older man gives an attempted punch at him, which Damian quickly avoids, still smiling. “You are a fool for thinking you can _ beat  _ me.” 

“Shut the hell up already, you bastard,” He says as he tries to kick and stab him in many attempts as Damian avoids getting hit. 

It was like playing with prey food. This was all too easy. It was like a game to Damian, which he plays way too often, knowing he can kill any criminal but chooses not also for his own father's sake. This time that rule is finally broken.

It felt suitable for crossing the line quickly. Damian's whole life has been in the League, where he lets himself go and just kills ninjas. He had to admit that he’s been like this with his father but was holding back just for his father's sake. It was like letting it go. And it felt good in a way.

Damian goes behind the man and grabs his arm roughly, bending the arm in a crack, which causes the man to scream, cursing letting go of his dagger. Damian catches it, proceeding to stab him in the side.

All he hears were screams coming from the women and the older man. But that didn’t matter. This was to teach criminals a lesson and a warning. This was his game now.

After the older man falls, he grabs on to his side to attempt to stop bleeding. 

“Okay, okay! I give up! I give up!” As he screams, begging to stop. Damian smirks at him while grabbing his collar.

“You aren’t escaping this one.” Then Damian punches the man's face. Repeating it in anger as it gets harder each time. It uses his rage to scare the criminals, except this time using it to show criminals that this isn’t a game. This isn’t a joke. This is a way to show that they’ll be dead before doing it again.

“How does it feel, huh?” Damian shouts at the man, continuing to punch him in the face until a first eye bruise starts showing, “How does it feel, huh?” Damian repeats, getting aggressive. 

His emotions start showing as he can’t control them. He’s losing self-control again. All over again. It’s just like the beginning when he was like this. He’s close to killing the man.

Damian finally let's go, throwing him to the dirty ground. As he turned his head behind him, he realized the lady left already.

“I’m not like Batman. I’m the one that will strike real fear. I’m the one that  _ will _ cross a line.” Damian spats at the man, which the man doesn’t reply, covering in blood gasping in air.

He grabs the man's collar again, ready to give a few more punches until something hits him, causing him to fall across.

“Who dares?” He growled, getting up quickly and looking straight ahead where he got attacked from.

“Damian. Enough.” A shadow figure walks out the light to be Batman. His expression was angry as he saw the lines behind that mask.

Of course, it had to be his father. “Tt, it’s you.” Damian rolls his eyes while crossing his arm. 

It’s always Batman. Of course, it’s still Batman. Damian gets sick of hearing that name. Of hearing how the legendary Batman doesn’t kill. It doesn’t bring fear. Not at all, they don’t.

“You are going too far.” 

Damian scoffs, shaking his head, “Oh, father. Of course. I’m going too far just because I want to make Gotham safer. Is that right?”

“This isn’t like you.” Batman takes a step forward but slowly keeps his distance. 

“You are a detective.” Damian sarcastically said.

“You are acting like a criminal.”

“Of course. You don’t even know your son.” Damian looks at him, disappointed.

“You act as nothing happened after his death. You think it’s my fault.”

“Damian…”

“It is my fault. Isn’t it?” Damian said again quietly.

“Damian, let’s stop this and come home.”

“No. I told you I quit being Robin, and I don’t want to come back. You think it’s  _ my  _ fault, right?” 

“N-“ 

“Leave me alone, father. I’m done playing games and acting as nothing  _ happened _ .” He growled.

Damian then quickly grabs his pocket of smoke bombs and throws it on the ground near Batman after he finishes his sentence.

It disappeared after the smoke calmed down and there left Batman standing still while the man was passed out.

There was nowhere to go other than his cramped apartment. But he’s not going to complain about that. He doesn’t care either way. It’s better to be inside hidden than being outside detected.

Damian strolls, looking down on the ground as he puts his foot on each step based on carefully not stepping over the cracks. Sometimes he acts like a kid.

Finally, away from Batman and encountering him was not ago. 

“Damian?” A voice spoke above the ground.

“Tt. Drake.” That was all Damian said as he knew that voice instantly everywhere. He’s already annoyed. Is he going to face the whole batfamily for this? 

“Hey, demon.” Red Robin landed on the ground facing him. He then stays where he’s a distance away from him just in case they attack each other.

“What do you want?”

“I heard what happened.” 

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s pathetic you are giving me pity.”

Tim shakes his head, “You don’t realize how much I and others are freaking out about you, right?”

“I don’t care, Drake.”

Red Robin sighs. 

_ This kid is complicated. _

“I’ll admit I miss you. So does Bruce. And Barbara, Jason, Di-“

Damian scoffed, “Richard doesn’t  _ even  _ know you or me. How the  _ hell _ does he miss me?”

“I-“

“When I saw Richard's face, it wasn’t right. He said he doesn’t even know us.”

“And Alfred…” Damian paused there, not bothering to speak about Alfred.

“I know it’s rough right now. All of us at the moment are mourning and having to go through with it. It’s not just you, Damian..”

“Like you know something,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Because I  _ do,  _ Damian. I  _ do  _ know something.” Tim says as he knees down to match Damian’s height while staring directly at him wearing the mask.

Damian stood there frozen while looking back at him directly in the eyes.

And there Tim can see a lost little boy deep down searching for help.

“It’s my fault. Why aren’t you mad at me?”

“Because it’s not. It’s not your fault, and you’re also my brother. I can’t stay mad at you.” Tim explains.

“Please… come back to us. Bruce is missing you the most; he's in an unstable state.” Tim desperately tries to convince Damian.

“I’m sorry, Timothy, I can’t come back. I don’t feel happy there ever since he’s gone. I don’t feel it right to come back.” Damian explains, placing his hand on his heart.

“So, what’s your next move then?” Tim asks.

“Don’t know yet. But what I know is that I’m not coming back. For now.”

“If you quit being Robin... are you going back to Red Bird?” Tim asks, raising his one eyebrow.

Damian scoffs again, “Not Red Bird. I want to be different than being a Robin. Maybe something even bigger than that.”

“It’s fine with me. I don’t think the others are going to exactly let you go out here because you belong with us.” Tim explains

“No. That’s where you’re wrong, Timothy. I  _ don’t _ belong there anymore.” Damian corrected him.

“I know you at least understand my feelings of  _ wanting _ to be different. You were once there as well, Timothy.”

Tim gives a stare, thinking about what to say. “Guess you’re right. But that doesn’t mean you can leave us like that.”

“Maybe. For now, I must be alone. I know others won’t exactly listen to me and try to stop me, but I know you will listen to me, Timothy.”

“Yeah. Just be careful, okay?” 

Damian smirks a little bit, “Tt” was all he said before turning around and going to the dark alleyway to disappear.

Tim was all alone, deciding if he should tell the others that he talked to Damian about the conversation if not. He wonders if that would change anything, but as Damian said, they still wouldn’t respect him going away from others.

He’s honestly glad he was able to talk to Damian about what’s going on.

“So. What did he say?” A deep voice spoke behind him.

Tim quickly got up defensive mode by reflexes, turning around, ready to attack the person behind him.

“Jesus, kid, it’s just me.” Red hood said, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Jason?”

“Drake. Code name.”

“Wait, why yo-“

“Remember you named yourself after Drake? That’s why.”

“Oh. Yeah, I changed that.” Red Robin said, scratching his back head awkwardly. Tim tries to forget that time where he had his code name as “Drake” every time it’s mentioned, he cringes slightly at thinking about it, and now he has to deal with everybody making fun of him for that. 

“Did your girlfriend tell you?”

“Yup. Back to Red Robin.”

“Good. I’ll give Steph credit later.” Red Hood gives a thumbs up, and Tim can tell he was smiling behind the helmet.

“Anyway, back to business. What did he say?” Red Hood asks while putting his arms together.

“He’s not coming back any time soon. And he’s likely going to his new identity for who knows what.”

“Red Bird?” Jason questions.

Tim shakes his head, “Nope. He said, not even that. Something bigger.”

“Should we do something?” Tim then quickly questions for an answer.

“Unless if he’s planning something bad, then yes. For now, just one of us will monitor him.” Jason answers back.

“Well, I don’t know where he goes. And he disappears for weeks with no trace. This is like the only time I finally found him.” 

“Oh. Well, we’re screwed.” Red Hood said as he shrugs.

“No. We aren’t. Because we both know Damian wouldn’t just turn evil.” 

“I didn’t say he was going to turn evil.” Jason lets out, defending himself.

“Although we should be prepared if it does happen,” Tim says to himself, thinking out loud.

Red hood gasps dramatically. “What? You told me that he wouldn’t turn evil. You hypocrite.” he points at him.

“Think what Batman would do. He has information on taking us down just in case we would go evil.”

“He  _ has _ trust issues.”

“No. It’s a smart move. Even I have plans on ways to take you down if you go evil.”

“Wow. Tim, do you want a cookie?” Red hood claps his hands while you can hear him also chuckling.

Tim ignores him. “I know Damian wouldn’t do that, but at least I have to prepare if something worse comes out.” 

“Fine. Are you going to let Batman know?”

“No. Batman said to leave this alone. He wants to do it himself. We aren’t involved.” Red Robin said, putting his arms together.

“Well, kid, I agree with you. He wasn’t  _ exactly _ specific.”

“Do you think he’s going to be okay? I mean, as I said, he’s taking this bad.” Jason added quickly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Drake, I’m serious. Don’t  _ you _ ignore Damian. He may be tough, but he’s really in a messed upstate.”

“Red Robin.” He corrects. “And I’m  _ aware _ . Which is why I’ve made plans to take him down if he goes in the wrong path.”

“Red Robin, you are missing  _ my _ point. Why not you just talk to him instead of making plans to take him down.”

“If Damian wanted our help, he would’ve known where to go. Right now, this is  _ his _ choice. We need to give him space.” Red Robin argues back.

“Mkay.” That was all Jason said. He didn’t want to argue at the moment. It was no use to him, and he wouldn’t go anywhere with this.

Tim doesn’t want to plan to prepare if Damian does go evil. He knew that Damian wouldn’t go evil. Tim keeps telling himself there’s no way Damian could even do that. 

_ Why am I having doubts? _

Tim wonders if Jason is right. If Batman is paranoid, then so is him. But he doesn’t let that affect him. Even before he had plans to take down Damian while the rest with the justice league, it wasn’t precisely targeted at Damian. He remembers all too clearly where Damian exposes him, and Dick had to calm him down. At least Dick understands. They all had to understand.

_ He wouldn’t do that _ . 

Although Damian was raised to be a weapon to be a killer to rule the League, he changed. He has Dick and everybody around him who were right influencers like Stephanie.

_ There’s no way. He isn’t evil. _

“Red Robin? You got a little quiet.”

Jason interrupts his thoughts.

“Yeah. Let’s just go back to the bat cave. I think we’re done here.” He replies.

_ Who knew I would be the one worrying the most about him. _

Tim breathes heavily and proceeds to go with Red Hood. All he could do for now is hope things don’t go wrong where Damian chooses. He wouldn’t do that. At least not yet.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so many mistakes on this, so this chapter is kind of not engaging. I read it so many times, but I don’t know. Hopefully, this one is good, but I know the next chapters are going to get interesting!


	4. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian is alone with his thoughts. After waking up from a nightmare, he decides to think about what he should do to pass the time quickly.

_ A strong smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes was filling the air. Someone or somebody is licking his face repeatedly over and over again. _

_ Damian flutters his eyes open, annoyed by the licking, and opens his eyes to Titus licking his face. _

_ “Titus… stop,” he mumbled as he moved Titus face away, which Titus replied with bark in his ear.  _

_ Damian sits up slowly, “Okay, I’m up. go down, boy,” as he rubs his eyes, and Titus starts barking while going off the bed to bark some more. _

_ The smell in the air was causing a large grumble in his stomach, which he finally stretched some more and then got off the bed to walk to the kitchen as Titus followed, wagging his tail. _

_ “Dami, you’re up!” Dick said, yelling excitedly, getting up from the chair, walking towards Damian, and hugging him tightly. _

_ Damian’s eyes widened, “Ric..?” Which Dick replies, confused to Damian, “Huh? Who’s Ric?”  _

_ “But… you were shot! And you don’t remember us.” Damian explained quickly, extremely confused at the same time, filled with realization.  _

_ Was all of this a big nightmare? _

_ Dick shakes his head, “Really? So I named myself Ric? Isn't it like Richard? Wow, you had a crazy dream.” Dick chuckles. _

_ “Alfred, are you hearing this?” Dick laughed again and put his hand on Damian’s shoulder. _

_ Damian’s heart stops for a second. Alfred. _

_ “Master Damian, it appears you were having a nightmare,” Alfred replied while busy cooking up pancakes and such. _

_ “Alfred?!” Damian's body starts shaking uncontrollably, his mouth open wide, shocked. _

_ Alfred then glanced at Damian with a worried look, “Master Damian? Are you okay?” _

_ “You were dead! You got killed by bane right in front of me!” Damian shouted, confused, and shaking more. It was anxiety reaching to him. _

_ “Wow, demon, you had a nightmare,” Jason let out as Damian quickly turned around to see him standing weirdly.  _

_ Was all of that was a dream?  _

_ “Yeah, I’m listening to all this nonsense,” Tim added as he walked up behind Jason. _

_ “Ti-Timothy?! Jason!?” Damian said louder. _

_ “Dami… Are you okay? What’s wrong? Talk to me.” Dick said while kneeling and settling his hands on both of Damian’s shoulders. _

_ Damian shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I really had a nightmare, and I’m happy you and Alfred are back. Alive and memories.” He then tightly hugs Dick back, not letting go. _

_ “Master Damian, I have cooked you breakfast,” Alfred announced while putting eggs, bacon, and pancakes on a white plate. _

_ Damian then let go of Dick and quickly hugged Alfred tightly as well as he shut his eyes. “Alfred, I miss you so much. Please don’t ever leave me.”  _

_ Alfred then kneels and hugs back Damian. “Master Damian, I’m sorry you had a nightmare. It happens to the best of us.” _

_ Damian was quiet then spoke up, still hugging Alfred happily. “Yeah. You’re right. It does happen.” _

_ Alfred then whispers in Damian’s ear that will forever haunt him, “You have to let me go, Master Damian.” _

_ “What?” Damian said while his eyes opened, shaking slowly again. What was going on? _

_ “You have to be strong, Master Damian. Do it for Master Dick and me.” _

_ Damian let’s go of Alfred quickly and looks straight at him. “What’s going on?! Alfred?” Damian then instantly turned his head around to Dick. “D-Dick?” _

_ Dick shakes his head, “Sorry, Dami, it’s Ric.” _

_ Oh God, it was a nightmare. _

_ “Master Damian, you must learn to let go,” Alfred said sadly. _

_ “Alfred?! Please don’t leave me again, please.” _

_ “Be strong for Master Dick and me,” Alfred repeats. _

_ “Why?!” Damian cries loudly. _

_ “You know he’s right, Dami…” Dick said, going next to Alfred. _

_ “S-Shut up, Ric!” Damian proceeds to cry out. _

_ “Be strong, Damian. Do it for me.” Alfred speaks again. _

_ Damian could see they are slowly beginning to disappear. The entire kitchen. _

_ Not again. _

_ Damian hugs tightly the best he could do at Alfred and Dick.  _

_ Damian's tears start to fall quickly, “P-Please don’t leave me again. Please, I beg you guys.” He sobs, closing his eyes tightly. _

_ “Be strong f-“ _

_ “Shut up, Alfred! Let me stay here forever, please, just don’t go yet!” Damian couldn’t swallow properly due to choking on his tears while his face quickly turned red. _

_ “It’s going to be fine, Dami.” Dick smiled while rubbing his back.  _

_ Then Damian hears Titus making a whimpering noise and comes up close, licking Damian’s tears off. _

_ It all felt genuine. Damian was confused if it was a nightmare or not  _

_ Damian begs, “I can’t do this alone without you, p-please, I’ll do anything just for you two to come back.” _

_ “It’s going to be all okay, kid, I promise.” Dick smiled  _

_ Damian shakes his head, crying uncontrollably, “Let’s just go back to normal! All over p-please.”  _

_ He opens his eyes while Alfred, Dick, and everything around starting vanishing faster. _

_ “Please, please stay with me for a little longer,” Damian yelled again, gripping very tight to both of them. _

_ “A little longer,” Damian repeats, but this time quietly, not daring to open his eyes, wishing it was all just a nightmare and hoping that everything else was a dream. _

_ Wishing that everything was back to normal again. _

_ He wished that Alfred is alive and Dick was himself again. _

Damian screams while opening his eyes and getting out of bed, “No! No!” He says while crying.

He then punches the ground, which causes a crack, whimpering all over the floor, frustrated at himself and his foolish dreams.

_ Come back to me, please. _

Damian shakes his head, trying to close his eyes to return to his dream even though he’s aware that won’t be happening any time soon.

“I can’t go any longer.” He whispers to himself, tears still falling out and hitting on the ground.

“I can’t… any longer, Alfred.” 

He inhales and exhales heavily, still standing where he's on the ground, trying to process everything he’s just witnessed while wiping his tears off his face.

It takes a moment to calm down finally and face the truth that it was a dream and that he’s awake this time.

He shakes his head and stands up while then going back to sit on his bed as he then glances at the window. It was still dark.

_ Is it still dark? Or is it already night time again? _

He didn’t bother to go outside or to patrol again after what he witnessed and didn’t have enough strength to face his whole family if they crossed paths again.

He checks under the pillow to see the black book he has with pictures of Alfred. It always calms him down but then even gets sadder and then usually ends with tears. 

_ Did he say to let go? _

“Do I even have the strength to let go?” He mutters to himself, thinking. Knowing the answer already, he didn’t want to admit it.

Then he felt his stomach grumble that then hurt his stomach.

_ When’s the last time I ate? _

Damian stands up to head over to his desk near the bed and grabs a snicker bar that was half-eaten open as he eats all of it, chewing it.

As he chews it, he gives in thoughts. He’s not  _ precisely  _ tired, but he’s also not  _ precisely  _ awake. More hours to go until the sky finally starts turning blue.

During the daytime, Damian usually just stays in his crapped apartment that is a little abandoned because he didn’t want to buy a hotel since Batman can easily track him down on his location. So instead, Damian went to an area and found his place.

If Damian were to go out daytime, he has to wear a cap or a beanie as a disguise, probably use blue contacts to cover his green eyes, or use sunglasses even though it bugs him and rather wear contacts anyway. Usually, he would only be out for at least food that would be fast food or search around for something. Then he goes back to his place for most of the day.

So all Damian does is go back to bed and lay there. He didn’t know what to do precisely. As usual, when this happens, he just lays there until he sees daylight. 

He tries not to think about his nightmares he gets and tries to ignore them, but they appear in his mind. He just wants someone hugging him until he feels safe in their arms and falls asleep and not gets nightmares. He just wants comfort.

His father wasn’t exactly a type of hugger or type to comfort a person since he has issues and can’t correctly show love in a way. His mother was the same since she was raised differently and didn’t get exactly comfort from her father, who is a person not precisely to be a good father.

Then, of course, Dick was always there for Damian from the beginning. Dick would always be cheerful and be the type to quickly make a person's day with that grin of his he uses, his jokes, and support. 

Damian needed that now and be able to vent anything with Dick. But of course, Dick’s not here anymore.

He doesn’t exactly talk with Tim. Even though they are on good stable terms, he feels like he didn’t have a close connection with Dick.

Course Jason would be the type to curse all over the place, be the type not to care, and maybe even give bad advice. That’s just Jason. Well, to Damian, of course.

Duke was just there. He didn’t exactly talk to Duke. He’s just there like just standing there confused about everything. And that didn’t help Damian.

Cassandra was different. There wasn't anything to talk about. He sometimes wonders if she even forgets at times that he exists. She was the type just to observe him all the time. It’s, of course, annoying, but he can’t do anything about it. He can’t just come up to her and tell her that he doesn’t like it when she stares. That would make him look stupid.

And he doesn’t like it when he looks stupid.

Then there’s Stephanie. He can tell she tries to relate with him as much as she tries to. They have a good bond, but it isn’t precisely like Dick. And what’s there to click exactly? 

Same with Barbara. Damian doesn’t exactly talk to her. She’s just there as well as Cassandra.

He sighs heavily, knowing it’s going to be a long night without proper sleep, and that’s going to make him moodier.

He needs to plan his next steps to taking over immense control to stop criminals. All he feels is impatience, anger, and hurt deep down inside that he didn’t like. It kept bugging him that he can’t stand the pain anymore.

Was he doing this for Alfred? Dick? Or was he just doing this out of anger and hurt?

He didn’t want to admit that he was hurt and angry. It felt like his whole life. He was  _ just  _ always angry, no matter what. Alfred and Dick  _ were  _ still there. No matter what. If Dick were away for a while, then Alfred would be there

Now they both  _ are  _ gone. Forever.

This leads to him now holding everything in, and it’s expected that he might hurt somebody in the end. It could be anyone at this point.

He then thinks for a bit. His last option was to go back to his mother.

He would never have thought that he would be going back to the league after everything he’s been through, especially since his mother. He knew that was a dumb decision, but his last remaining option is that.

Maybe he can use the Lazarus pit to bring back Alfred.

_ Lazarus pit. Alfred. _

“Yes. Yes!” Damian quickly gets up again and instantly knows this could work as his thoughts fill up also. He gets to have Alfred back. Although his other side tells him it won’t work, and it’s just because he’s still hurt.

He doesn’t care, though. He’s desperate with options, hasn’t slept, hunger is rising, and he can’t deal with it any longer to the point he doesn’t think right.

Damian wonders if his mother is going to kill him.

“Worth a shot,” he mutters to himself.

He has nothing to lose at this point.

Damian then looks around the floor where shirts and sweats are scattered over the place. He quickly just grabs whatever is right in front of him and doesn’t care.

He then looks at the desk with scissors along with a broken mirror. 

Damian needs a haircut. It’s starting to look a lot like Jon Kent, and he doesn’t like it one bit and can’t help that his black hair is in his face covering his eyes.

He has many thoughts on what he should do with his hair.

“Okay, I can do this.” And then Damian grabs the scissors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very active in writing to the point of making some mini chapters and now will make this series in parts. There will be publish moments of looking deeper in series I’m already making like, “Damian’s haircut” moment, “League of Assassins: Damian’s long days”, soon to make Jon Kent interactions and such more im thinking how to properly write Mara Al Ghul. Most of it is cause it doesn’t properly fit right being in this series so this is some behind the scenes lol
> 
> There’s a lot going on I think I’m going to rename this to Fallen of a Robin instead of what the name is now.


	5. New Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman and the others find out that Ric sides in with Joker with a new female that goes by the name of “Punchline” while discovering recent information Jason is still distracted by thinking about Damian.

Jason has no idea why he’s always involved with these meetings. He wonders why he’s  _ even  _ invited. He wonders what’s the point of this if this meeting is going nowhere and nobody won’t do anything about it. It always ends up with the talking and discussing; then it’s dismissed after that. What happened to where they did missions right after meetings?

Usually, he would walk out without caring, but this time he was more focused ever since Damian’s disappeared. After he talked with Tim about confronting Damian, both of them didn’t mention it to Bruce since he never was particular with anything really, and Bruce wanted to do this alone. But Jason wonders a lot about what’s Damian up to these days since then.

“What happened to Ric?” Duke spoke up finally while being confused. Lately, he hasn’t fully got the details on what’s exactly happening and curious about what happens with Damian. After he heard about what Dick now goes by, he doesn’t have much to say but a little sad. He’s met, Ric. Duke finds him calm, but he’s a different person that made him feel weirded out.

Jason munches loudly while eating his chips, “He disappears and is now siding with Joker because he has no life. I should’ve beaten him with a crowbar to make sure he comes back to being Dick.” It got a little quiet, so he looked up at others to see them all staring at him, concerned and offended.

“What? I’m just saying.”

“I miss Dick,” Barbara said sadly as she couldn’t help but cry. She misses Dick and who he was back then. She forgets everything that he’s done and what he’s doing. Dick is just some dude who has no concern with being a hero or isn’t the right person. She felt Cassandra then hugging her tightly. Cassandra was always there for Barbara initially as Barbara was there for her even though Cassandra may not talk or talk, she still knows how to comfort Barbara or at least try to.

Jason rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything, or else he knows he’ll make things worse, and then everybody will be mad at him for making Barbara cry even more. He doesn’t want that to happen anyway because he’ll feel bad for being a bigger asshole towards Barbara.

“Me too.” Stephanie agreed quietly.

“Everybody. We have a new case. It’s about Ric and the Joker.” Bruce announced as he types on the bat computer for the screen to pop up to reveal Ric and Joker seen together with a new female.

“Yo, who’s that pretty chick?” Jason asks which Tim next to him, shushes him while giving him a stare. “Now’s not the time,” Tim whispered.

Jason waved it off into not caring either way. He proceeded to munch on his chips.

“Her name is punchline. She seems to have been working for joker this whole time for who knows how long.” He explains, giving everyone time to think.

Jason sighs, “Mkay, and you’re saying Ric comes up and works with them both?”

“Yes.”

“See? I told you guys that Ric was always suspicious.” He smirks, not surprised by this at all. At some point, he knew Ric was up to something.

Then he could hear Barbara starting to sob more, and he in his mind was full of regret and felt like an idiot. “Sorry.” That was all he said and then went to being quiet.

After that, he lost focus in hearing what Batman was saying. Thinking deep into all the things that were mentioned. Ric, Joker, and Damian. They were all just on a low profile, and now Joker is back for more games but having Ric to be there helping him while Damian has not appeared yet. Is Damian going to come back? 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tim said as he abruptly thought of Jason’s thoughts, and then he gave Tim a stare.

“How do you know what  _ I’m  _ thinking?”

“Because it’s just obvious, and it’s easy what you’re thinking.” He explains.

“What the hell are you? A mind reader?”

“No.” Tim rolls his eyes. “Listen, I’m worried too. I mean, he hasn’t responded the past few days or shown anything to know that he’s alive. I'm suspecting he’s planning something.” He added.

Jason gives him a weird look, “Listen, Tim, I think the kid is depressed. We should find him.”

“Agreed, but for now, we stop searching and focus on the mission that Joker plans. I promise we’ll go find Damian after that, okay?” Tim promised.

“Okay.”

That’s enough to make Tim grin and go back to looking at Batman as he continues to explain the steps. Jason likes the idea, but he’ll still search for him. For now he stays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crazy how it’s 2021 already. Happy late New Years. Next chapter will include Talia and Damian.

**Author's Note:**

> I have school off for 2 weeks so I finally can write a lot
> 
> (Also this was deleted but finally back up again


End file.
